Preview Changes vs. Collingwood (Qualifying Final) Thursday night

[brucetiki]

Check out our board hub for all the deets about our Finals matches - including a one stop shop for those offering/wanting barcodes or tickets over the coming days.

Please put all requests for barcodes/tickets in our Hub thread only.

Tickets for the game have currently been exhausted. There won't be a public sale of tickets today. Keep an eye on the club's socials for any ticket releases closer to the game.

Resource - Adelaide Board Finals Hub

Welcome to the Adelaide Board's Finals Hub. All you need to know about our upcoming Finals matches can be found here! Qualifying Final: Adelaide v Collingwood, Thursday 4 September, 7:10pm Adelaide Oval Ticketing Info: https://www.afc.com.au/club/finalshub2025 Members pre-sale: 10:00am...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[huludicidal]

With the team we have picked, I'd go for Bond on Jaicos, Max back.

ANB is very good at getting up the ground and back, so if he goes to Josh, we lose that structure IMO.

However, ANB on Nick is an option, he's done a great job before on him.

I don’t hate Bond on J Daicos, and I love Max back.

The problem there is you can’t play 8 defenders, it’s just not a thing and isn’t happening. This setup means one of the following 6 players cannot play in the back 7:

Hinge
Laird
Milera
Worrell
Murray
Keane

Are you sending Hinge to a wing and one of Curtin or Cumming to the inside mid role or up forward? That would really be the only scenario where Max and Bond are both in the back 7 based on who we have selected.

 

[Tex Danger]

Is this the time where we throw Curtin into the guts

Someone needs to take some available mid time from rankine that Draper took last game

 

[huludicidal]

With Draper and Dowling both out (and Rankine out of the side) and nobody coming in who is likely to play in the midfield, I sense Taylor might see some centre square minutes in this game rather than 100% of his time up forward. I like this. So much time and poise in traffic.

 

[Tex Danger]

Lots to unpack

Seems very defense-minded / safety first with Bond + Smith in the 23 but a couple of big risks in there too.

Can Pedlar get through a full game and contribute for 4 quarters? I really like him and am glad we've picked him. Acknowledge that it is a risk though.

Was Max forward a Shane Ellen FF at Noarlunga brief glimpse, joker stashed away for later, now played just the week vs a good team when we are without Rankine + Rachele? Bold call, coach. I think the timing is right.

Last season many of us thought Bond might be able to find a niche role in defence. It hasn't happened but I reckon our coaches have been looking for ways to include him. The planets have aligned late in the season. I like it. He could be our Nick Smith in waiting.

A shame about Dowling. I wonder what it is we don't rate about him? Seems a composed, effective, impactful player every time he takes the field. Is he a bit... nice? We maybe prefer the streetfight of Pedlar.

Question
Will Collingwood dutifully park Josh Daicos across half back for Max to forward tag him? I suspect they won't. We showed our hand against them last time. Against Gold Coast when Collingwood had a poor first half they shifted J Daicos into the midfield after half time and he lit it up

I reckon J Daicos starts in the middle and we instead see Pendles or even N Daicos start across half back.

What do we do? Who do we target?

In that scenario I’d suggest Max just tags Nick if he’s half back.

If both are midfield I could see us sending max to follow a daicos in the modified given we dont have an obvious replacement for Rankine/Draper mid minutes.

But I’d be surprised if there was both daicos in the middle for more than a short period of the game and if we stick to our guns they would end up rolling Josh back again

 

[Tex Danger]

With Draper and Dowling both out (and Rankine out of the side) and nobody coming in who is likely to play in the midfield, I sense Taylor might see some centre square minutes in this game rather than 100% of his time up forward. I like this. So much time and poise in traffic.

Would be unlike nicks to play a young player in mid who hasn’t been used there all year

 

[kikkavic]

I don’t hate Bond on J Daicos, and I love Max back.

The problem there is you can’t play 8 defenders, it’s just not a thing and isn’t happening. This setup means one of the following 6 players cannot play in the back 7:

Hinge
Laird
Milera
Worrell
Murray
Keane

Are you sending Hinge to a wing and one of Curtin or Cumming to the inside mid role or up forward? That would really be the only scenario where Max and Bond are both in the back 7 based on who we have selected.

Laird might go into the middle.

 

[Peter Doherty]

Would be unlike nicks to play a young player in mid who hasn’t been used there all year

Like how he refused to play Curtin in the middle against the Hawks.

 

[Carringbush2010]

So this game boils down to whether Collingwood can stifle our ball movement again. If they do, it’ll be a tussle. If they can’t our forward line will blow them away.

I come in peace.

Dunno if you've noticed, but Collingwoods dna, like the first qt (and the first half of the season)is what they do without possession.

• Without ball, they apply ground defence denying opposition, essentially forcing a contest.
• Outnumber at those contests to win possession to force turnover.
• From inside the contest dispose of ball to outside runners
• From there they have transition and use ball speed

This is their ideal game.

This requires outrunning your opponents, not with speed, but just outrun for the whole game, it also requires favourable conditions. Opposition teams have known Collingwood's game since it's been employed since Fly got there.

One thing to know it, another thing to defeat it.

You'll probably also notice that the high pressure teams, like Adelaide have employed a similar game. That's why Adelaide's defence has become the envy of the competition, not like the first quarter to half the season.

Difficult to defeat and also highly taxing to employ, that's why you've seen Collingwood tempo games when they have possession in momentum or in possession when they don't have momentum. Adelaide similar.

In the previous encounter it was a first qt that displayed Collingwood's ideal game, then after that Adelaide amped up the pressure and the rain came.

Essentially making it a 2.5 - 3 qt arm wrestle and it was anyone's game from there. Adelaide good enough, expect a similar game tomorrow, the result? Who knows, completely up for grabs.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Laird might go into the middle.

Nah.

 

[Tex Danger]

Like how he refused to play Curtin in the middle against the Hawks.

Nicks has done some un nicks things this year

Id expect more likely he turns to Curtin to take up the mid time because he’s chosen to use him in patches a Number of times this year.

Even an ANB whose experienced in the role.

Taylor has midfield craft, but I think if nicks was thinking this way he would have got a shot last week instead of Draper getting that chance and so we are more likely to see someone who has spent more time there

 

[Peter Doherty]

I come in peace.

Dunno if you've noticed, but Collingwoods dna, like the first qt (and the first half of the season)is what they do without possession.

• Without ball, they apply ground defence denying opposition, essentially forcing a contest.
• Outnumber at those contests to win possession to force turnover.
• From inside the contest dispose of ball to outside runners
• From there they have transition and use ball speed

This is their ideal game.

This requires outrunning your opponents, not with speed, but just outrun for the whole game, it also requires favourable conditions. Opposition teams have known Collingwood's game since it's been employed since Fly got there.

One thing to know it, another thing to defeat it.

You'll probably also notice that the high pressure teams, like Adelaide have employed a similar game. That's why Adelaide's defence has become the envy of the competition, not like the first quarter to half the season.

Difficult to defeat and also highly taxing to employ, that's why you've seen Collingwood tempo games when they have possession in momentum or in possession when they don't have momentum. Adelaide similar.

In the previous encounter it was a first qt that displayed Collingwood's ideal game, then after that Adelaide amped up the pressure and the rain came.

Essentially making it a 2.5 - 3 qt arm wrestle and it was anyone's game from there. Adelaide good enough, expect a similar game tomorrow, the result? Who knows, completely up for grabs.

Won't be able to blame it on the rain tomorrow.

 

[FullyBigKPro]

Curtin getting midfield minutes in a final....

 

[Ciao Giacomo]

Do you reckon we didn’t ask for permission for Draper and Dowling to play so that we might be more likely to get permission for Rachele if required?

I have no idea. Perhaps both players were in the mix before last Sunday.

If we win this week then I believe that Rachele can play in the SANFL next week

As I understand it, we can use anyone in our squad on Sunday week except the 23 players who suit up on Thursday night
(I could be wrong). If the AFL team is knocked out then it reverts to the games played in the SANFL etc rules.

My best guess is that Draper and Dowling are currently next in-line of the fringe players but that might have changed after Cook’s game last Sunday.

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

No, I didn’t miss the one game in his career where Max played in the forward 50, against a horrid team. I also didn’t miss the 12 consecutive games prior to this, and the 6 consecutive games after this where Max didn’t go near our forward 50 because he was playing on the opposition’s most dangerous small forward. Were there no dangerous half back flankers in any of those 18 opposition sides, and Vlastuin and J Daicos are just the only 2 players in the league who require such attention? Funnily enough, neither of J Daicos or Vlastuin made the AA team, which suggests maybe this isn’t the case.

The fact we never went back to Max up forward after the Richmond game, and that Bond remained out of the side until Max did his hammy suggests this was never in the planning either and was a one-off due to Richmond being devoid of dangerous small forwards for Max to play on. Conversely, Collingwood have a small forward in Elliott who has had a career year and kicked over 50 goals.

There is no question that quelling the Daicos brothers is important. There is also no question that quelling Pendlebury, Elliott and De Goey is important. You can’t play Michalanney on all of these players.

The matchups I would have gone with were:

Michalanney on Elliott
Neal-Bullen on J Daicos
Dawson on Pendlebury
Berry on De Goey
Soligo on N Daicos (swapping at times with Peatling)
Bond out of the side, Dowling to play a mix of forward and mid, in an attacking role.



What the selectors appear to have opted for is:

Bond on Elliott
Michalanney up forward on J Daicos
Dawson on Pendlebury
Berry on De Goey
Soligo / Peatling on N Daicos
Neal-Bullen likely opposed to someone like a Maynard
Dowling out of the side


For me, a forward line missing both of Rankine and Rachele but still containing both of Keays and Neal-Bullen just probably needed another more attacking and creative option, rather than a defensive forward, when we already have defensive small-medium forwards. It seems to me like we’re a bit hyper focused on defense and turning it into another grind rather than actually kicking a score. Hey, maybe a grind works.

I am also not huge on playing Michalanney in a role he’s only played once in his career, against a terrible side. Yes, he did play very well that day. Yes, Vlastuin is a good player. No, I don’t put much stock in that. If he’d played it even, say, 3 times with success against finals-quality teams, I could probably get around it. If Bond hadn’t played so poorly against North, I could probably get around it. At this stage, I can’t get around it.

Happy to eat my words if Max and Bond both dominate their opponents on the night. I feel Neal-Bullen would have been the perfect option for J Daicos. Do we really think J Daicos would smash us with Neal-Bullen on him instead of his opponent from the game a couple of weeks ago, Lachie Murphy? I personally think Neal-Bullen is absolutely fantastic at this exact role, and was stunned that Murphy was doing it instead of him a few weeks back.

No issue with others having different thoughts on these matchups, but I like picking a team that plays to our own strengths, and Max Michalanney is in the best 3-4 players in our back 7 for mine, so that’s where I’d be playing him.

Max is good at helping to move the ball out of defense into the forwardline with strong smart play - something we have missed apparently.

 

[pjcrows]

Anyone think it's possible they play Bond up forward on Daicos

They'll play Bond on Elliot, like last time.

 

[StonesThrow]

Lots to unpack

Seems very defense-minded / safety first with Bond + Smith in the 23 but a couple of big risks in there too.

Can Pedlar get through a full game and contribute for 4 quarters? I really like him and am glad we've picked him. Acknowledge that it is a risk though.

Was Max forward a Shane Ellen FF at Noarlunga brief glimpse, joker stashed away for later, now played just the week vs a good team when we are without Rankine + Rachele? Bold call, coach. I think the timing is right.

Last season many of us thought Bond might be able to find a niche role in defence. It hasn't happened but I reckon our coaches have been looking for ways to include him. The planets have aligned late in the season. I like it. He could be our Nick Smith in waiting.

A shame about Dowling. I wonder what it is we don't rate about him? Seems a composed, effective, impactful player every time he takes the field. Is he a bit... nice? We maybe prefer the streetfight of Pedlar.

Question
Will Collingwood dutifully park Josh Daicos across half back for Max to forward tag him? I suspect they won't. We showed our hand against them last time. Against Gold Coast when Collingwood had a poor first half they shifted J Daicos into the midfield after half time and he lit it up

I reckon J Daicos starts in the middle and we instead see Pendles or even N Daicos start across half back.

What do we do? Who do we target?

I would say Dowling still looked out of his depth in general play. Kicking two goals (one of which was very lucky) masked this.

 

[Soggy2112]

Talk of Michalanney playing forward is giving me Massie on Franklin vibes. I think we are trying to be too cute with it. I know Bond did a good job on Elliott last time, but surely we don’t overcomplicate it. Elliott is dangerous so go with the best match up available which is clearly Max.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Talk of Michalanney playing forward is giving me Massie on Franklin vibes. I think we are trying to be too cute with it. I know Bond did a good job on Elliott last time, but surely we don’t overcomplicate it. Elliott is dangerous so go with the best match up available which is clearly Max.

I feel far more comfortable of the thought of Max on Jaicos than Massie on Buddy!

 

[Soggy2112]

I feel far more comfortable of the thought of Max on Jaicos than Massie on Buddy!

I was more suggesting Bond on Elliott is potentially the equivalent match up.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I would say Dowling still looked out of his depth in general play. Kicking two goals (one of which was very lucky) masked this.

I thought Dowling looked ok & nailed his goals.

Can't expect a guy who has hardly played AFL all season to dominate.

Kicked more goals than Murphy has all season with endless chances.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I was more suggesting Bond on Elliott is potentially the equivalent match up.

Elliott is good but he is no Buddy!

If a problem, I'm sure unlike stubborn Craig, we will move another defender on to him.

Bond has rarely let us down, so i don't see the similarity.

 

[StonesThrow]

Who are the 40 people who voted for Rachele ?

 

[StonesThrow]

I thought Dowling looked ok & nailed his goals.

Can't expect a guy who has hardly played AFL all season to dominate.

Kicked more goals than Murphy has all season with endless chances.

He did two good things and that was convert two regulation set shots. One of them he got a lucky free kick and the other someone spotted him free i50 for an uncontested mark.

The rest of the game he panicked and looked off the pace.

I don't dislike him, but he doesn't look ready.

Not sure if Pedlar is much of an upgrade given his form this year. The only reason I like Pedlar over Dowling is Pedlar has more dynamism to his game. He's also fun to watch

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

He did two good things and that was convert two regulation set shots. One of them he got a lucky free kick and the other someone spotted him free i50 for an uncontested mark.

The rest of the game he panicked and looked off the pace.

I don't dislike him, but he doesn't look ready.

Not sure if Pedlar is much of an upgrade given his form this year. The only reason I like Pedlar over Dowling is Pedlar has more dynamism to his game. He's also fun to watch

So how many games has Dowling played this season...

I'm a Pedlar fan, but he is a little lucky.

 

[StonesThrow]

So how many games has Dowling played this season...

I'm a Pedlar fan, but he is a little lucky.

I mean that doesn't change the fact that he looked out of his depth in the last game.

I'm not talking about selection committee in 2025.